Calls grow for int'l help in Maluku

Calls grow for int'l help in Maluku

JAKARTA (JP): Calls for a foreign peacekeeping mission in the
Maluku Islands grew here on Thursday following a National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) statement that the
government should consider "international cooperation" to end the
violence there.

Komnas HAM Secretary General Asmara Nababan said that the
dispatch of an international peacekeeping mission to the conflict
areas be considered.

"The UN peacekeeping mission should be composed of civilian
police personnel, and not the military," Asmara said when asked
by The Jakarta Post to further elaborate on what the Commission
meant by "international cooperation".

Komnas HAM in a four-point statement on Wednesday noted the
"state failure" in resolving the conflict despite it having
lasted for over 18 months and costing thousands of lives.

It called for a resolution to the Maluku issue to be the
"primary national priority", including taking "concrete and
humane steps" to overcome the issue of refugees as a result of
the conflict.

"Because the government has been unable to end the conflict,
there is concern that the international community will force
intervention which will only widen conflict. Because of that it
is time the government consider international cooperation,"
Komnas HAM said.

The statement said any "cooperation" should preferably come
from Indonesia's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) as they were likely to be more acceptable to the
local people.

ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

However the statement itself, signed by Commission chairman
Djoko Soegianto and Asmara Nababan, stopped short of openly
suggesting a foreign peacekeeping mission.

Munir, founder of human rights watchdog Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence, on Thursday was quick to support
the idea of a foreign peacekeeping mission saying that
international intervention was necessary to control the security
apparatus which has allegedly sided with the warring parties.

"The conflict in Maluku could have been controlled if the
security personnel there were in the clear," Munir said.

"We have to admit that we don't have the capability...we can't
deal not only with the security problems but also with the
humanitarian crisis," he said adding that the government does not
have enough experience in dealing with the social aspects of the
conflict.

Munir also supported the idea of having foreign police,
instead of military, as peacekeepers in Maluku.

He pointed out that the situation in Maluku was different to
that in East Timor. Army elements, he said, would remain in the
area and thus there would be the potential of direct "contact"
between Indonesian and foreign troops.

The Maluku Islands have been devastated by bloody sectarian
fighting which has killed over 3,000 and over a hundred thousand
people have been displaced.

Jakarta, however, has ruled out the use of foreign
peacekeepers but has said it would welcome humanitarian aid.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab told the Post later in
the day that asking foreign troops to come in "will only ruin the
government's credibility and hurt the nation's pride".

Alwi, who will meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in
New York on Aug. 19 to discuss the issue of East Timorese
refugees in West Timor, maintained that the government was still
capable of handling the situation in Maluku.

Indonesian Military (TNI) Spokesman Air Vice Marshall Graito
Usodo echoed Alwi's sentiment, saying the military should be
given more time as it was "less than two months" since the
government imposed a state of civil emergency on Maluku.

Asmara said, however, that the time is running out and that
"it is very difficult for the government to disregard the
international pressure" as fresh clashes were taking place.

"I think the international pressure would ease up on the
government if the state of civil emergency can dramatically
reduce the violence, but it's clear that that's not the case".

He added that it was also "very difficult" for the
international community to believe the government's promises.

The United Nations on Wednesday opened a resource center in
the provincial capital of Ambon to support local and
international efforts to address humanitarian needs in the
region.

Leaders of the Christian community in Ambon have repeatedly
expressed distrust of TNI troops deployed there and have called
for foreign peacekeepers.

They have accused soldiers of siding with Muslims, and cite
several documented cases of uniformed and armed soldiers taking
part in attacks on Christian settlements in Ambon in recent
weeks.

Muslims have in turn accused police of bias toward Christians.
(byg/dja)